1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a depository device for receiving customers' deposits of banking transaction materials under conditions of maximum security. More particularly, the invention relates to depository equipment comprising or forming a part of a remotely installed banking service unit which in the absence of banking personnel will receive and store in a sealed tamper-indicating container deposits of banking materials of various customers in separate envelopes for transport from the remote unit to a central bank where the deposited material in a number of envelopes in the sealed container may be processed to complete the related banking transactions for which the respective envelopes were deposited.
In addition, the invention relates to depository equipment which prevents and thereby controls access to the banking materials in the deposit envelopes by personnel servicing automatic banking machines having depository components.
Finally, the invention relates to depository equipment having the security and deposit handling features described and having a conveyor mechanism for moving a deposit envelope to the sealed container of simplified construction and coordinated control which senses whether the sealed container can accept the deposit of an envelope before it is conveyed to the container.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art abounds with numerous depository devices of all kinds for banking institutions which are designed to receive material to be deposited with the bank in bags or envelopes, particularly at night or at remote unmanned banking units.
Recent developments in remote automatic banking equipment, and particularly remote envelope depository devices are exemplified in the prior art patents discussed below.
The depository device of U.S. Pat. No. 3,836,980 uses a chain conveyor with pushers thereon for moving a deposit-containing envelope from an entry slot in the face of a remote banking unit through a security chamber to discharge the envelope at the exit end of the conveyor into a protective chest in the banking unit. The chest is accessible through a vault or safe door to remove deposit envelopes which accumulate in the chest. The device has a rocker door with conveyor entry and exit barriers one of which is opened when the other is closed and vice versa to prevent access from the banking unit entry slot along the conveyor to the chest at all times.
The depository device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,687 avoids difficulties encountered in the use of the construction of the envelope depository of U.S. Pat. No. 3,836,980. It uses a double belt conveyor for moving a deposit-containing envelope from an entry slot in the face of a remote banking unit to discharge the envelope into a vaultlike compartment of the banking unit. The compartment is accessible through a vault or safe door to remove deposit envelopes which accumulate in the compartment. The device has sliding gate plates for the entry and exit ends of the double belt conveyor, one of which is opened when the other is closed and vice versa to prevent access from the banking unit entry slot along the conveyor to the compartment at all times.
Special precautions must be taken and multiple bank personnel must be provided to ensure that the deposit envelopes in the chest or compartment of the depository devices of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,836,980 and 4,085,687 are delivered to a central bank absolutely free of the occurrence of any undetected access to or removal of or tampering with the deposit envelopes or their contents during unloading of the chest or compartment and during transportation of the envelopes from the remote unit to the central bank where the deposited material in the envelopes is processed.
Thus, an inventory must be taken by multiple bank personnel under protective conditions of all envelopes being moved from the remote banking unit to the central bank as the envelopes are removed from the remote unit chest or compartment. Further, the deposit envelopes must be protected intact in some manner against tampering by the transport personnel during the period of transport from the remote unit to the central bank. Without such inventory and protective measures being taken, loss of envelopes containing deposits or pilfering of or tampering with the contents thereof can occur undetected. Such protective requirements result in substantially increasing the cost of providing remote banking depository services.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,140 discloses protective sealed tamper-indicating money dispensing containers and procedures used in supplying automatic banking equipment cash dispensing services. Paper money bills in the sealed containers may be delivered from a central bank and installed in a remote cash dispenser unit under high security conditions with a minimum expense of providing such remote cash dispensing services. Such system and equipment, however, does not provide any means for protecting deposited material at the remote unit which must be transported back to the central bank.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,437 discloses remote cash dispensing equipment utilizing the sealed tamper-indicating money dispensing containers of U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,140 at a remote banking unit which also accepts and stores deposited envelopes. However, although the depository conveyor equipment in U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,437 is very simplified, as compared with the conveyor equipment in each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,836,980 and 4,085,687, nevertheless, the expense of providing the remote depository service is still much higher than desired since the deposit envelopes are discharged, just as in the earlier depository device U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,836,980 and 4,085,687, merely into a protective chest in the remote unit. Thus, the same special precautions and multiple personnel inventory requirements exist to protect the integrity of envelopes deposited in the equipment of U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,437 when removing the envelopes and transporting the envelopes to the central bank for processing.
There are no provisions in the prior art, of which we are aware, for maximum security in the handling and delivering of banking materials deposited in envelopes at a remote unattended automatic banking depository unit that avoid the necessity of taking the special precautions and using the multiple personnel inventory procedures described which heretofore have been required to be taken and used with prior art devices to protect the integrity of envelopes deposited in a remote depository when removing the envelopes from the remote unit and transferring the envelopes to a central bank for processing.
There thus exists a need in the field of supplying remote unattended depository banking services and equipment which will accept deposit envelopes and enable their removal from the remote banking unit and delivery to a central bank under sealed tamper-indicating conditions and at minimum cost, by accountable messengers who have no direct access to the deposit-containing envelopes, per se.
Further, the need exists for such equipment that provides maximum security and low cost remote depository banking services which is very simple in construction, which requires little, if any, maintenance, which is very reliable and effective in operation, which is capable of handling envelopes of various sizes containing deposit material which may vary in thickness from envelope to envelope, and which consists of very few simple components.